As the sun sets on another fabulous July 1st, I find
time to reflect back to one of my all-time favorite Canada days.

The morning consisted of back bacon on the Coleman as Strange Brew on
the television added that certain ambiance we were looking for.

Then, a brief walk down the river to take in some alpine
splendor. Later, as we made our way into town, we consorted with other
hosers on the corner.

Standing there, we all paused for a moment as a gaggle
of children passed by.

It was there and then I realized that, for me, the true
indication that it's Canada day is the moment I see that cute kid walk
down the street with a balloon in hand and a Canadian flag painted on
their cheek.

Canada Day is also a fine time to reflect on just what
the heck makes us Canadian.

A joke I heard recently seems to sum it all up.

"How many Canadians does it take to screw in a light
bulb?

Ah, just leave it. Your eyes will adjust."

It's that passive nature that has most of us now spending
more of our patriotic time, not saying we're Canadian, but saying we're
not American.

Heck, it's estimated that 30 per cent of Americans believe
Canada is a state.

Thankfully for the time being we're not.

But as the winds of change blow it's quite apparent that
the U.S. will continue to wage war on vague words until all the world's
resources are at their command.

Combine their intense imperialism with their NAFTA ability
to continually make laws forbidding us to act without their consent, and
you have all the makings of a maple republic.

Which is wholly unfair, as the delightful Rick Mercer
put it, "Canada is bigger and on top, If this were prison, America
would be our bitch."

Maybe we should just get together and go burn down the
White House.

Aw, who am I kidding, we've already done that.

It was the War of 1812 and it ended in true Canadian
fashion. We got drunk and came home.

Since then, Canada has been in a number of scuffles and
its fair share of incidents, but for the most part we seem to continually
come out clean on the world scale.

Switzerland has their neutral status but I'd take our
nice guy image over that any day.

Around the world there are not many flags you can sew
to your backpack that will be greeted with as many smiles as the mighty
red leaf.

Traveling abroad the atmosphere is immediately lightened
when it's made clear that you're Canadian.

That feeling of open arms and camaraderie is definitely
a feeling worth being proud of.

We're funny, we're passionate, we're free, we're lovers,
not fighters and we should be damn proud of what we have and who we are.